The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has busted a sophisticated cybercrime racket that allegedly cheated US nationals of over $8.5 million through crypto wallets and foreign bank accounts, according to an official statement.
Acting on inputs from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), CBI teams launched operations in Noida and caught six key accused in the act of defrauding American citizens.
“During searches conducted by CBI on 10.12.2025 and 11.12.2025, it has been revealed that this transnational cyber-enabled financial crime network was channelling the proceeds of crime through virtual assets and bank transfers,” the CBI said in a statement.
It further added: “Searches conducted at premises of the illegal call centre and the accused persons led to recovery of cash amount of Rs 1.88 crores, 34 electronic devices viz mobile phones, laptops, pen drives, hard disks and incriminating documents pertaining to crime.”
During the period between 2022-2025, the accused operated under pseudonymous identities of US government officials from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Social Security Administration (SSA).
According to the statement, the accused conspired to target US citizens by threatening them that their social security numbers (SSN) had been used for money laundering and drug deliveries and that all their assets would be frozen.
Claiming that their funds faced imminent risk, the accused persons manipulated the victims into remitting $8.5 million to cryptocurrency wallets and overseas bank accounts under their control.
As part of Operation Chakra, CBI is rapidly identifying and taking action on the organised technology enabled crime network in close coordination with INTERPOL and foreign law enforcement agencies, the agency said.
Reacting to it, the United States praised CBI’s efforts in busting the network, calling it a “great example of US-India partnership in action”.
In a post on X, the US Embassy in India said, “Thanks to strong law enforcement cooperation, our two countries are hard at work keeping our citizens safe.”
“A great example of #USIndia partnership in action! In coordination with the @FBI, India’s CBI disrupted a transnational cybercrime network that defrauded US nationals of $8.5 million through tech-support scams. @CBIHeadquarters arrested those behind the network and recovered significant illicit proceeds,” it added.
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